P-7811 FX major screen problems

Hi there

Have had this thing for several months and have been very happy so far.

Yesterday I started noticing a small graphical glitch - the edges of the screen (top and bottom) would turn into static - it looked like the images were "pulling" to the right, although each row of pixels would pull slightly differently, and they would flicker back and forth like static. I noticed it first when my Zune software started to do some fancy graphical tricks. I also could see it happen on my plain desktop, though.

Today I played some Bioshock, and it started slowly and then got worse and worse and eventually covered almost the entire screen.

I'm worried that it's overheating, that would seem to explain the patterns. I'm not overclocking, and I have plenty of ventilation (on a hard surface, nothing around it). Turning the laptop off and coming back after 15 minutes made the problem go away. I have never had this problem before. I have not changed drivers or anything else lately. Using the most current drivers from Gateway's website.

Thoughts?

 

install HWmonitor

http://www.cpuid.com/hwmonitor.php

check your temps that way. and id go to the nvidia site to get drivers, but thats just my preference. who knows, maybe you just need to change drivers

also, is it always the top and bottom of the entire screen, or sometimes just a window?

 

(installing now)

re: top and bottom - actually, I noticed that in Bioshock, it seemed like the screen was divided into 4 squares, and it happened simultaneously in all four.

 

Ok before I started playing it was around 102F, when I was done it was at like 160F with a max showing of 186F. That aint good.

One weird thing though, when I started Bioshock up, the warning text at the beginning went REALLY bad, but then when it started going through the pre-title credits (publisher, developer, Nvidia), those were all fine, and the game played ok (with small amounts of static) for a while, and only got really bad on menu screens.

Ok this is REALLY weird... I took a screenshot with printscreen and NO static showed up. Then i restarted and took a printscreen the same way of the warning text (large amount of screen covered in white writing) and when I paste it to paint, the image ITSELF gets really staticy. Looking at my browser right now, it looks fine. When I alt-tab to paint, it goes crazy (the static is in motion, not, well, static and unmoving).

Now I'm worried it's a hardware issue with my screen and not a software issue with drivers... what on earth could make it do that?

 

Ok even WEIRDER.

When I open the jpg in a browser, looks perfect. When I open it with windows photo gallery, perfect. When I open it with paint, it goes staticy.

WEIRD.

 

Does it do this with black areas? This 'static' and 'pulling' sounds familiar to what I had. I ended up sending it into Best Buy and just getting my screen replaced (I had the insurance, so why not?)
There is a guide on how to get rid of it on these forums, something with a loose wire I believe. Search a few pages and you should find it.

 

It seems really prevalent with white text against black backgrounds. Switching between two forums right now: this one (black on white, no problems) and another (white on black, problems)

Search function doesn't seem to be working =/ Keep getting 404 errors or invalid search queries on "screen problem"

 

This is one of the previous discussion about the screen distortion -
Look anything like this?
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=334705

 

Yes, very very similar. I don't know if I feel comfortable making that fix though, so I think I'll just use the warranty.

 

Use your warranty of course. I used mine already and I got new laptop instead. But unfortunately I can see that the same problem is coming No problem, I still have 6 months warranty.

 

So Gateway's trying to rip me off. They're claiming I'm not the registered owner... despite the fact that I have an EMAIL FROM GATEWAY on the day I bought it saying "thank you for registering" with my name, model number and serial number. s.

 

Thank you for contacting Gateway. I’ll be happy to assist you.

Since you are not registered and not living in US, we are not able to support you.
Please contact our International technical support number 408-876-6001.

For further clarifications please feel free to visit our web site http://support.gateway.com

This is what I got from gateway support I wish you good luck.

 

Those temps aren't horrible. That max temp is about what i get max in crysis if I dont use my cooler. It shouldnt be the cause of your screen distortion.

However, if you are still having trouble getting to gateway for a warranty
you should definitely do the reconnecting the adapter method. I had to do it to replace my lcd screen. Mind you I've had no previous experience in opening a computer, but I managed to replace the lcd, which is far more than youll have to do to re plug the adpater.

Just follow the instructions here up to the point where you take off the multimedia keys strip and re plug the adapter in (step 8).

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=382408


EDIT: Actually you don't have to do any of that. Just take out the battery. Then pry of the mediakeys strip the way described in that link then replug in the adapter. You dont have to remove your harddrive or remove the heat sink or unplug the wireless card cables. just the two screws in the batter bay you need to take out. its really a simple process